What Makes The Difference Between Life and Death?

Mon, Oct. 06, 2014 Posted: 12:50 PM

Most people can live the next 40 days without food, the next 4 days without water… but can’t live more than about 4 minutes without oxygen.

As you read these words, your chest is softly, rhythmically, and automatically rising and falling as air enters into and exits your lungs. You probably weren’t even consciously aware of this until I called it to your attention. Yet, without this intake of air, which contains oxygen, your physical life would come to an abrupt end.

Regarding the subject of oxygen, the Bible has this to say in Genesis 2:7:

“And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a Living soul.”

Clearly, God used two separate and distinct steps in the creation of man. First he formed man of the “dust of the ground” (See Genesis 2:7). At death, when a body is placed in the ground, it eventually reduces to the same ingredients from which man was originally formed – mineral ash or “dust of the ground”.

What Makes The Difference Between Life and Death?

The answer to this question brings us to the most basic and important substance in man, a substance so necessary that life cannot be sustained without it. It is an ingredient of such monumental importance that without it, life is absolutely impossible. The substance I am talking about here is none other than OXYGEN or as God calls it– “the breath of life”!

So God breathed into Adam’s dead and lifeless body the “breath of life” and that dead body comprised of all those dead minerals sprang to life. Well, just as oxygen was absolutely necessary to produce life in Adam, it is that same oxygen that is absolutely vital and necessary to sustain life in our bodies to this very day.

At birth, when a child makes its entrance into this world, its first and most basic need must be met, and it must be met quickly if life is going to continue. And what is that most basic need?

Why it is that same “breath of life”, oxygen, that God breathed into Adam at the time of his creation. Most of the time we are not even aware that this process is taking place, yet, if our oxygen supply were to be cut off for only a few seconds, we would quickly become aware of our need of it.

What Is Necessary For Survival

When we think of survival there are some basic things we think of – food, water, and oxygen. If we don’t get enough food we starve to death. If we don’t get enough water we die of thirst. And if we don’t get enough oxygen, we simply die for lack of it.

Think of a crystal clear, fast moving mountain stream that is full of life and oxygen.

Compare it with a still, putrid, pond just sitting there in its own stagnation, filled with algae, bugs and other microorganisms. What’s missing or wrong with it? Oxygen deficiency!

Now think of your body.

If it is infused with life-giving oxygen, circulating well throughout the body, the cells bathed in this richness thrive and your body functions at peak performance.

But just as the pond loaded with scum and deficient in oxygen the same is also true. If your body lacks proper amounts of oxygen, it begins to become stagnant and falls into disease and degeneration, allowing foreign invaders to flourish, just as in the pond.

In fact, many of us are running around with our bodies starved for oxygen and we aren’t even aware of the reason.

It is oxygen that provides cells with their ability to convert the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins we eat into heat, energy, and all the processes that define life. For all the functions of the body, oxygen intake is the most necessary.

Deep breathing is the process that accomplishes this through exercise and is the means by which we increase the amount of oxygen in our body.

Dr. Otto Warburg, President of the Institute of Cell Physiology, had this to say about oxygen:

“Deep breathing techniques which increase oxygen to the cells are the most important factors in living a disease-free and energetic life.”

If we need oxygen to live and be healthy, it makes sense to reason that increasing the oxygenation of our cells improves our health. There’s a ton of scientific evidence to support this and there is very little dispute over the health benefits of deep breathing or oxygen supplementation.

Conventional medicine has long recognized and used oxygen for everything from treating emphysema and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), to improving wound healing and preventing gangrene. There is not a hospital room that is not equipped with the ability to provide oxygen to patients.

The signs of aging are a normal event and to be expected as we grow older, but the vast numbers of people experiencing real disease states and declining health these days is mostly due to the following facts:

There is just not enough oxygen in their bodies to function normally, stay healthy, and fight off dangerous toxins and microorganisms and thrive in an oxygen-depleted environment.

What Can We Learn About Oxygen?

The quality of the air that we breathe (its purity) affects the quality of the life we live. Breathing good clean air increases the quality and length of our life. Breathing polluted air decreases the quality and length of life!

Increasing the supply of oxygen to the brain (through deep breathing and exercise) will cause mental abilities to increase and the brain will become more alert.

Decrease the supply of oxygen to the brain (through smoking, air pollution and sedentary lifestyle) and the brain’s mental abilities will decrease and become sluggish.

Cut off the oxygen supply to the brain for only a brief moment (as during a stroke) and parts of the brain will die. Interrupt the oxygen containing blood supply to the heart and a heart attack results, and if totally shut off the person will die.

Increase the supply of oxygen to the body’s cells and the body becomes full of energy and life. Decrease the supply of oxygen to the cells of the body fails to provide the energy necessary to perform properly, and we feel tired, sluggish and listless.

An increase in the supply of oxygen to the body’s cells helps us mentally and emotionally, and we become happy and optimistic. Decrease the supply of oxygen to the body’s cells and we become discouraged, depressed and pessimistic.

Increase the supply of oxygen to the body’s cell and sickness has difficulty obtaining a foothold! Decrease the supply of oxygen to the body’s cells and it provides the breeding ground for sickness. Sickness and disease have great difficulty surviving in a well oxygenated atmosphere, but proliferate in an atmosphere deficient in oxygen.

We could go on, but the above should be adequate to show the importance, yea imperative, of making sure our bodies receive an adequate supply of oxygen so that we can experience life to the fullest! Talk about experiencing life to the fullest, Jesus had this to say:

“I am come that ye may have life, and that ye may have it more abundantly.” ~ John 10:10

Smoking Affects Oygen Intake

I can’t close this article regarding oxygen without issuing a warning if you still smoke.

Few people who smoke realize that smoking slowly but surely cuts off their oxygen supply, as the tars in the smoke slowly build up on the lining of their lungs. After a person has smoked for a period of time, their lungs take on the appearance of the inside of a wood stove chimney that is lined with black, sticky creosote.

This coating of the lungs restricts the intake of oxygen and the person slowly but surely suffocates the body’s cells, depriving them of their most important need – oxygen! And if that isn’t bad enough, tobacco smoke also contains carbon monoxide, the same deadly substance found in automobile exhaust.

Carbon monoxide combines with the hemoglobin in the blood and reduces its oxygen carrying capacity. This decrease in oxygen causes the heart to pump faster in an effort to try and make up for the deficiency, constricts the blood vessels, thus creating poor circulation, and there is so much more.

If you are a smoker, and love life, please stop smoking right now! And yes, you can stop smoking if you really want to. Thousands of other smokers are quitting every day.

Next week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high we will return with another exciting issue of the Hallelujah Health Tip. Trust you will join us and that you will share these Health Tips with friends and loved ones.